Monday 9 January 2012

Infrared Images From the Sterloff Property

Here are a series of infrared images from the Derelict Textures series. Abandoned, rusty machines, trucks and cars captured in true IR with a D-40x converted by LifePixel to capture IR wavelength light only. It takes a while to get the knack of shooting IR images. You have to re-think lighting, background, white balance, shutter speed and textures. These are some of the first images that I took with the newly converted camera ( I bought it for the purpose of converting to IR )..I would set-up the camera differently now...knowing what I have learned since.

Before we begin...here are a few images from the property that these first few subjects were sitting on. A truly magnificent 60 acres of land that edged up to the Georgia Straight. At the time that the photos were done, the property had just recently been vacated by the elderly long time residents. The old house is barely visible in one of the photos...a small beach house on stilts with a kings view is at the oceans edge. The main house was torched by the local fire department for a practice exercise. This put more eyeballs on the property and the dozens of old trucks, machines and artifacts...a lot of the most interesting stuff was taken away by various people after that.
Gorgeous rocky beach at the foot of the Sterloff property 60 acres

Looking south towards the Thormandby islands...a tidal swimming pool

With my back to the ocean...looking up the trail towards the house ( partially hidden ) summer house on stilts on the right.

Looking west...Texada Island in the background

Beachhouse/summer house at the oceans edge


Up the trail from the ocean towards the back of the property where all the machines and trucks are parked. 60 acres of west coast paradise.



Back in different times, these big station wagons with the fake wood trim were pretty much the status symbols of the day.

I think the old lifeboat was meant to be a planter....to dress the place up a bit.


The owners must have had a special passion for "woody" station wagons

I'm pretty sure that this is a home built log skidder...the radiator says  "Euclid"...but I think the whole thing was stitched together from something else for the purpose of pulling logs out of the bush.
The radiator of the log skidder
Log skidder front end...the old motor is missing a few parts...
Log skidder front hood...shot from above

Close-up of the log skidder cowling and wind screen...although I don't think that this thing went fast enough for wind to be an issue.

I'm always curious about the last day that old dead cars and trucks ran...just before the last breakdown...running out of money and luck...no more spark...no more life in them..
Log loader parked out in the swampy/wet area of the property...that will likely be the last soldier standing...because it's to big and heavy to move....unless someone cuts it up for scrap.
I wonder if whoever built this...ever made a buck with it?...or was it someones dream that didn't pan out. I would have loved to see and hear it run...probably a snorting, noisy, smoke belching monster.
Here's a short video of an old Euclid Trac-Truck...re-powered with a Jimmy
Euclid 1ZW trac-truk bottom dump 1930S print, nw shovel

Here's a photo of the original Euclid that I found after a commenter pointed me in the right direction

http://forum.aths.org/Attachment2883.aspx

7 comments:

  1. you sure there was no bodies in them vehicles

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  2. Being 100% sure about things is such a slippery slope I find...I'm gonna go with ...there didn't appear to be any at that time

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  3. hey Anonymous...nephew of Andy and Rita...get in touch please

    badartist812@gmail.com

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  4. The old log skidder actually is a bonafide Euclid, the earliest of all Euclids, from 1934-35. Two versions were offered, a tractor/bottom dump combo (model 1ZW) and soon afterwards, a rear dump (2ZW). This is a real, big-time rarity, by the way, I never thought any of them might be still around. Engine was a Waukesha gas inline six, 112 hp. So only the skidder-specific components were home-made. The archetypal 15-ton Euclid FD hauler with the three-part windshield was launched in 1936 and the rest is history, as they say...

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  5. Oh yeah, after your comment I looked up those models of Euclid. Sure enough, there it was...always a pulling machine. This time built for logging. Thanks for the heads up on that!

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  6. Is the Euclid still there, or has it been scrapped?
    Is the log loader sinking in the bog still there?

    Fine blog you have there, found it thru Skadill's YT videos. Interesting iron in the BC woods...

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  7. Luckily the old Euc got taken to a hopefully loving home, instead of the melting pot.
    Not sure about the log loader...much bigger task to move. Not sure what the family situation is regarding the property these days.

    I talked to an 81 yr old friend the other day...he and his dad re-routed the old highway in that area a million years ago. He had the whole scoop on the guy who brought all that iron in there. I'll take notes next time I see him.

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